New Law Gives License to Abuse in Italian Circuses?

LONDON, Oct. 16, 2008 — -- Do you remember Russell Crowe in the hit Hollywood film "The Gladiator"?

He warily played with lions in a re-creation of one of the most famous circuses of all time: the Coliseum, where slaves died fighting wild animals, before a live audience.

Like their ancestors, Italians still like the circus. But of course, they like a more modern version where artists, acrobats and animals remain unharmed during their performances: no slaughter, no torture, no beatings.

But this is not always the case in Italy, especially behind the scenes, out of the public eye. A recent law has liberalized the organization of circuses. Now, anyone can get a license to open up a circus.

Egidio Palmiri, the president of the National Board of Circuses, has criticized the move.

In an interview with the newspaper Giornale dello Spettacolo, he warned that the law "will lead to dangerous consequences, allowing the quality of circuses to get worse," adding that," people that have nothing to do with the category have slowly penetrated Italian circuses damaging our image around the country."

"We have being asking for stricter controls and tougher punishments but no one is listening," Palmiri said.

A few circuses are reportedly getting out of control, keeping wild animals such as tigers and elephants in confined spaces, using electric bars and hooks to tame them and force them to work. This is why pro-animal campaigners such as LAV, one of the biggest Italian NGOs for the protection of animals, are trying to promote a new idea of circuses that only uses human performers.

But in some circuses, things are getting even more serious with accusations of abuses against human beings.

Police in March closed down a circus called the Marinom, where they say a terrified 19-year-old girl from Bulgaria was forced to swim among flesh-eating piranhas and her younger sister was draped in a coat of tarantulas and snakes.

This alleged horror circus occurred in Petina, a small town near Naples, in the south of Italy. Under a circus tent, on 200 plastic chairs, paying guests watched this nightly show, officials say.